How to choose the prepaid phone plan for you

With the world and its mother owning cell phones and using them as often as possible, it isn’t surprising that they also incur astronomically high bills. With the proliferation of smart phones that carry features that affect the plans their owners are on, the possibility of bills rising meteorically higher becomes more real as the days go by.

While most people cannot live without cell phones, they also don’t like the fact that having one means being tied to a long contract and paying a monthly fee, regardless of how little or how often you use your phone. Sometimes, additional features like data usage or messaging plans that allow you to check, send and reply to emails are charged extra which adds to their monthly fees.

If you are the type of person who doesn’t want to be tied to a lengthy contract or pay additional charges, then a prepaid phone plan is for you.

A prepaid phone plan, defined simply is a mobile phone plan you pay in advance using the call and text message credits. When you use up your monthly credits, you will be blocked from making any more calls or sending text messages until you reload your credits. With so many great prepaid plans in the market today, one can be hard pressed to find the best ones so here are some things that you should consider in search of the perfect prepaid plan:

How Much Credit?

Some of the biggest providers will offer you a dollar to dollar deal – meaning however much you pay for a month, that’s the credit you get. Others will offer you plans inclusive of a number of free text messages and a certain amount of call credits or data usage.

Keep in mind that call rates may differ from provider to provider and plan to plan.

Locked or Unlocked?

Unlocked phones are ones that don’t come with the plan and are not “locked” to a certain provider. Some prepaid plans allow you to buy your own phone while others already come with their own phone. The distinct disadvantage of this is your choice of phones can be very limited and the ones that you do choose may not support certain features you’d like to have in a mobile phone.

While it ensures you get cheaper mobile service, you also need to bear in mind that because the credits come cheap, the phone along with it, however, may cost you more than if you just buy your own.

When Does the Credit End?

Prepaid phone plans don’t require you to pay at the start of every month but you have to keep in mind that there’s an expiration date for your credits, nor are they rolled over for next month’s use. Even if you’re a light user and all, it doesn’t mean your credits won’t expire even if you haven’t used them all up. Make sure that you ask the provider when your credits will end so that your credits don’t go to waste.

Also, make sure you check for any additional charges like calls or text made overseas, roaming charges, etc. And don’t be afraid to use comparison sites! These sites are actually very helpful towards your quest to find the best prepaid mobile phone plan for you because they will list down the prepaid plans you want to explore because these sites have customizable search parameters that allow you to search according to preferred price per month, preferred contract length, number of calls and text messages per month and data usage per month. You will be able to pull up only the information you want and need and thus, be able to decide on the plans you want to sign up for.